Embracing diversity – one dental student at a time

For UCLA dental students, Isaiah “Izzy” Sampson and Ryan Davis, entering the dental field was in one word — perplexing.Growing up in several different states, Sampson never saw a Black person in his family ’s dentist’s office. Not the dentist, the hygienists or even the office staff. As he started thinking about applying to dental schools and attending pre-dental society meetings, he again found himself among the only people of color, let alone Black people.Even faced with that lack of diversity, Sampson still decided to apply to dental schools. He felt it was his calling to become a dentist and to also help do his part to make sure that the next generation of Black children would see a dentist who looked more like them.At UCLA, Sampson and Davis are in the minority in their class of 88 students — six students are Black in the class of 2023. Most recently, a recruitment push to attract more students of color has started to pay off. The demographic make-up of the incoming class of 2025 is 11% Black, which was a goal the school had set for the class of 2026 and has met a year ahead of sched ule. In comparison, Black people make up 8% of the population of Los Angeles County.The school has also made strides in attracting more Hispanic students, right now, there are 18 Hispanic dental students, or 20%, in Sampson and Davis ’ class. This dips a little to 14% of the incoming class of 2025. The overall goal is to have the incoming dental class represent the diversity of...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news